Shi Youcheng

Overview

Shi Youcheng was a prominent figure in the Plain White Banner of the Qing Dynasty, whose family had lived in Shenyang for generations. The year of their submission to the Qing Dynasty is unknown. Volume 77 of the *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, under the entry for the "Shi Family," preserves records of the official positions held by his descendants over several generations, but does not explicitly state which official positions Shi Youcheng himself held, thus failing to include his descendants' positions in his personal biography.

The original text records that his son, Shi Guojun, served as a warehouse manager; Shi Guoying served as a scribe; his grandson, Shi Huayu, served as a military officer; his great-grandson, Shi Bin, served as a cavalry officer; and his great-great-grandson, Lizhu, served as a warehouse manager. The warehouse manager was involved in warehouse management, the scribe handled clerical work, and the military officer and cavalry officer belonged to different banner-related positions. While warehouse and clerical positions appeared across several generations, as well as military posts, this diversity of positions does not necessarily mean that Shi Youcheng himself held all of these official posts.

This entry illustrates how Qing Dynasty genealogies used concise generational markers to organize family history. "His son," "grandson," "great-grandson," and "great-great-great-grandson" each have specific meanings, with "great-great-great-grandson" referring to a great-great-great-grandson. The book does not provide the complete kinship chain, official positions or terms of office of Shi Youcheng's descendants, nor does it specify when the family moved to Shenyang. The narrative is limited to the explicitly listed banner affiliations, ancestral residences, and official positions.